Capture
by shadow6539
Summary: The gang play Capture the flag, and no one thought that pairing Reyna and Nico would be a huge deal. Are they really just acquaintances?


"Earth to Reyna. Hello?"

Reyna's head snapped up. "Sorry, what?"

Hazel laughed, her curly hair bouncing. "I was wondering whether you were excited."

"Excited about what?"

"The special Capture the flag, silly! I guess you aren't, if you forgot already."

"I was just thinking." Reyna sighed, and stared over at the guys. Frank, Leo, Nico, Percy, and Jason were talking. Even though she tried hard not to, sometimes she still felt a little pang of envy towards Annabeth and Piper for having Percy and Jason. Both had rejected her for someone else. They were friends now, but Reyna still wished. She was there when she needed to be, but had no one else for support. She had friends, sure. She was a praetor of New Rome for Olympus's sake! They just didn't feel genuine enough. Only Hazel, Annabeth and Piper were people she could trust, but they weren't always there. They didn't fully understand. They had boyfriends, and happy lives. They weren't alone, dealing with Camp Jupiter's problems, and Octavian's constant companionship. (Which wasn't fun, because he was always complaining about something. ALWAYS.) She wished someone would understand just a little bit.

"We are going to be awesome! We have the best team!" Percy put his arms around everyone. "We can't lose!"

"Don't get cocky." Jason laughed.

"Who said I was cocky?"

"I believe you just did." Everyone laughed at Frank's joke. Everyone except Nico.

"Nico? You okay little cuz?" Jason asked. Nico rolled his eyes. He hated when Jason called him that.

"Don't call me little cuz, and I'll be fine." Percy roared laughter.

"Burn!"

Nico sighed. Once again his family was crazy, but they were some of the only family he had. Only his dad was still alive, and that was because he was immortal. Nico had a step-mother, a crazy grand step-mother (who was obsessed with feeding him cereal, because she thought he was too skinny.), and his half-sister, Hazel. And Percy, Jason and Thalia as cousins. That was it. He wasn't huge on hugging and mushy stuff, but he cared about all of them, except for Persephone, his step-mother. Yet, he still didn't feel understood. Everyone else had everything they could want. Percy and his girlfriend, Jason with Piper and the praetorship with Reyna, Hazel with Frank, no longer worrying about her curse, and even Leo, who was able to rebuild a control disk for Festus. But, he didn't go around feeling sorry for himself. He was thankful for what he got.

"Nico! Nico! Earth to death boy!"

"Sorry, Percy. What did you say?"

"I said that it's time to go. Let's get this started!"

"Here's the plan. We start as one huge team. then we branch off. Jason, me, Annabeth, and Frank on one team, and Hazel, Leo, Piper, Nico and Reyna on the other. Then we split even more. Me and Jason and, wise girl and Frank, Leo, Piper and Hazel, and Nico and Reyna. Got it?" Everyone nodded. "Good. Whoever finds the flag first, signals to the rest of us, okay?" Everyone nodded again.

They reached the field of Mars. For this Capture the flag, both teams had a fortress, and one team had Hannibal, the elephant, and the other team had Percy's hellhound, Mrs. O'Leary, to keep things fair. People were making last minute check-ups on armor and cannons, so they wouldn't be caught without preparing. As a horn blew, the games begun.

The team went through the underground tunnels that Hazel found. They reached the end and climbed up.

"Split off. When you get into the fortress, if you do, split into the teams that I assigned you. Signal if you have the flag, or if you see where it is."

Just as Percy, Annabeth, Jason and Frank were leaving, Piper ran and kissed Jason. "Have fun."

Reyna, on impulse, reached over and kissed the first single guy she could. That first single guy happened to be Nico. She was so overcome with jealousy, that she couldn't help herself. As she pulled away, Reyna looked at Nico's face. _Was- was that sadness?_ Before she could tell though, his expression changed to an unreadable one. "Let's move, we don't want to get caught." He plunged into the shadows of the fortress, followed by his team.

Nico crept through the shadows, wondering. _Did I feel something? If I didn't, then why didn't I want it to end? Why did I want it to keep it going? _ The team rushed into the fortress.

"Well, let's split again. Have fun, love birds." Leo chuckled, before running off. Piper ran after him, along with Hazel, who cast Nico a look of confusion, as if she couldn't quite believe that Reyna had kissed him. That made him feel even worse.

"So...uh...which way?" Reyna asked, her cheeks pink.

"In the opposite direction. They'll cover that side. Stay in the shadows, we'll ambush anyone who comes along our path." Nico crept down the corridor of the fortress, staying in the shadows, like it was the easiest thing in the world. Reyna followed carefully.

They didn't meet a lot of people on their way. The people who were unlucky to come across them, got acquainted to Reyna's dagger, and Nico's sword. They finally came across the flag, with four guys guarding it. They looked extremely bored, and one of them didn't even have all his armor on. Another guard had his spear propped against the wall, and his gladius in its sheath. In other words, they were not prepared for the pair's ambush.

"We found the flag, let's-" Reyna was stopped by Nico, kissing her. She was surprised at first, and even more surprised to find out that she liked the kiss. She didn't want it to end. All to soon, Nico pulled away.

"I'm so sorry... I couldn't-" This time it was Reyna's turn to shut him up.

"... Wow."

Reyna smirked. She left him speechless. "I think we should signal the team. They'll want to know where the flag is."

"We can get it ourselves. The signal was only to be used if we couldn't do it by ourselves, which isn't the case."

Reyna thought about it. She thought it would also show that they were a good team. By looking into Nico's eyes, she could tell he was thinking along those same lines. "How are we going to get out again? They have alarms."

"I have a plan. We're going to grab the flags and book it."

"Basically, we're going to Wing it?"

"Yeah."

They beat the guards easy enough. It was the alarms that screwed them up.

"I still think we should have thought of another plan!" Reyna said, running from the Romans that were trying to get their flag back.

"What do you expect? I'm not Annabeth! I don't think crazy, elaborate plans on the spot!" Nico retorted, running with the flag. He hissed when a Roman decided to try his luck at throwing a knife. It hit Nico's shoulder.

"You okay?"

"I'm fine. I've had much worse happen."

They were reaching the entrance to the fortress. They could see the stars. Nico passed Reyna the flag.

"Keep this! When I say, I want you to throw it as far as you can in front of you!" He disappeared a second later, leaving Reyna to run away from the Romans.

"Thank you so much! Just what I always wanted, a flag of my very own!" Reyna said bitterly. She kept running, until she heard Nico. She chucked it away from her.

"What are you doing?!" Octavian shouted from the crowd. "That's stupid! You'll lose the flag!"

Reyna didn't have a chance to answer Octavian, because she heard a very faint, "Thanks!"

She saw Nico running along, when she was sure she hadn't seen him a second ago. He reached the border, laughing manically all the way.

"Take that!" He shouted. Reyna ran over to him.

"Nice, shadow ninja." She giggled. "That'll be your new nickname. I think it suits you, but I don't know you all that well." Nico looked puzzled. Then he understood.

"The praetor of New Rome and the son of Pluto? Don't you think she could do better?"

"I don't know. You're going to have to show me." She smirked. "Keep this quiet. You saw how Leo acted. I did that to keep your life interesting."

"My life is-"

"Yeah, yeah. I came over to congratulate you, okay?" She flashed a sadistic smile. "Remember that. We wouldn't want anything-"

"Got it."

"Good. See you." She walked away, feeling optimistic. Maybe Nico would understand. Even if he didn't, she had a feeling that he would make a good ally, and friend.


End file.
